Arab Who Married Jew in Controversial Wedding Arrested
October 28, 2014
Mahmoud Mansour, the Arab who married a Jewish girl from Jaffa two months ago in a wedding that sparked a nationwide controversy, was arrested by police this week for possessing illegal substances, according to media reports in Israel.
Yad L’Achim officials note that publicity surrounding the arrest has deterred a number of Jewish women from taking the step of marrying Arabs, adding that women who fall into the trap of mixed marriage often discover that their husbands are involved in criminal activity.
Meanwhile, the effects of this summer’s IDF Operation Protective Edge continue to be felt as just this week two Jewish women who converted to Islam changed their minds and returned to Judaism. Since the summer, many other women have backed out of marriages to Arabs, due to tensions between the couples over the war.
One of the women who made her way back to Judaism this week converted to Islam a year ago at the age of 17. The girl, who had been raised in a problematic family, entered into a relationship with an Arab man who pressured her to convert and marry him in a Sharia court.
IDF Protective Edge forced a switch in her thinking and she realized that if the baby she was carrying was registered as a Muslim, she would likely lose him forever. This led her to contact Yad L’Achim and ask to be returned to her family and to Judaism.
Within days, she was rescued from her Arab village. However, with the backlog created by the religious courts’ summer recess her chances of appearing before the judges and regaining her status as a Jew before her child’s birth appeared slim.
A Yad L’Achim social worker, Sari, got involved and convinced court officials of the urgency of the matter. As a result, the young woman was put at the head of the line and allowed to appear before the rabbinical court earlier this week.
The rabbinical court judges were visibly moved by her story and impressed by her sincerity and determination to correct her ways and return to her people. As a result, they immediately approved her request and issued a document affirming her status as a Jew. From the court, the young woman was brought by Yad L’Achim to the Justice Ministry where the process was officially completed.
That very night, the woman was admitted to the delivery room and by the morning held in her arms a daughter, a Jewish daughter.
